Windows vista

Windows Vista – Is It Really That Bad?

I finished recording our Windows Vista Training course earlier this week and after being immersed in Vista over the last few months, I have to say that I am pretty impressed. I am currently running Vista along with Office 2007 on three different machines and I have had very few problems.

As a matter of fact, I really like the new combination a lot. So why does it seem like everybody is whining and complaining about Vista?

I have come to the conclusion that the vocal minority is making headlines for the usual reasons; negative headlines draw more attention and bashing Microsoft is just their thing to do (I don’t care if you bash them, but at least try to be impartial about it).

Here are the main complaints:

1. Hardware/Application Incompatibility

Most people just want their stuff to work and don’t want to mess around with trying to “fix” it for Vista. I am right there with you and I cringed at the thought of doing this when I first started using Vista.

I have to say though, that I have had very few problems with this. I have only run across one printer (4 years old) and one program (Norton’s Internet Security 2006) that did not work under Vista and this is just weeks after its release.

Obviously, some software/hardware does not work under Vista but what do you expect? The same thing happened when Windows 2000 was released (it was much worse) as well as when XP was released.

More importantly, how much of this falls on Microsoft and how much falls on the 3rd party vendors? 3rd party companies have had plenty of time to ready device drivers and update software.

Microsoft has had release candidates and a final version out for months … start throwing some of the blame at the 3rd party companies who have been slow at updating their products.

2. User Account Control (UAC) is a Royal Pain

Overall, UAC is a great security feature. Along with changes and new additions, Vista is by far the most secure Microsoft OS to date (go ahead Linux/Mac fanboys; enter your tired, “secure for a Microsoft OS” jokes here).

Here are some of the responses I have come across (on sites and blogs) regarding UAC:

Is it really that annoying to click a button? Is it "constantly popping up" or does it occasionally pop up the few times you need to do something administrative on your workstation?

The last complaint really cracks me up; if you are so damn smart then just disable it in group policy.

3. Hardware Requirements are Ridiculous

The hardware requirements are steep but modern computers can easily handle them. It is all about innovation and CNEI (Constant Never Ending Improvement).

Should Microsoft develop operating systems and programs that are limited in features and capabilities so that they run on legacy systems? I don’t think so.

Windows 2000 also had people up in arms about their hardware requirements; people slowly migrated to new systems, when it was right for them. If your current computer/budget prevents you from running Vista, that is fine, there is nothing wrong with running XP; it is still a great operating system. But, don’t complain about greater hardware requirements at the expense of a better product.

Overall, I think that Microsoft has done the best job they have done in a long time, with Vista and Office 2007. Both of them offer significant new features and their enhancements to usability are top notch. Yes, there are some problems but I think the good far outweighs the bad.